Stop daily worship in school, says Ofsted chief

Daily acts of worship in state schools should be stopped, David Bell, the chief inspector of schools, said yesterday.

Daily acts of worship in state schools should be stopped, David Bell, the chief inspector of schools, said yesterday.

Mr Bell, head of the education standards watchdog Ofsted, urged ministers to consider allowing schools to hold religious assemblies every week or month instead of every day.

In a speech to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1944 Education Act - which brought in the compulsory daily act of worship, he also urged ministers to consider whether school assemblies should still have to be "broadly Christian" as demanded by present legislation.

School inspections showed that more than three quarters of secondary schools - a total of 76 per cent - were breaking the law by failing to hold a daily assembly, he added.

"How many people in this country, apart from school children, are required to attend daily worship?" he asked.